Senate orders DPR to seal-off filling stations

Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and Downstream ), currently investigating the lingering fuel scarcity in the country, has directed the Department of Petroleum Resources to seal-off any filling station hoarding the product. Chairman of the committee, Mr. Magnus Abe, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the long queues at filling stations across the country would soon disappear. He said the committee had approached the Lagos State Government and and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, to allow tanker drivers lift petroleum products in compliance with the resolutions agreed with the Senate joint committee and stakeholders in the oil industry. Abe added, “I have spoken with the Lagos State Commissioner for Transport and the chairman of NUPENG in Lagos and they’ve assured me that everybody is complying. “The situation will improve and it will continue to improve. There’s still a lot of panic buying going on but, as days go by, the queues would reduce.” The senator expressed satisfaction with the progress recorded since the truce was brokered among stakeholders in the oil sector by the committee. Abe said, “Nobody can say he’s satisfied with the present situation because as I would say, this is something that would happen again and again again except we have a drastic review and overhaul of the entire system and the entire scheme; this is not a permanent solution. “It’s a stop-gap measure to allow normalcy to return to the sector. It would be the responsibility of the incoming administration to look for a more permanent solution. “I’m very confident that normalcy will soon be restored and I urge Nigerians to give the system a chance to correct itself and those who have fuel do not necessarily need to do back to the filling stations to refill because there’s no scaring coming. “Those, who do not need to buy for their cars or jerry-cans to go and store at home because when you do that, you are contributing to the scarcity. “We have given very clear instructions to the DPR that anybody, who has stock and is not selling in the hours that we have agreed, should have their licences revoked and their facilities sealed-off. “I will get back to the DPR today to ensure that the nobody toys with that instruction. If anybody has information as to the contrary, that the filling stations are hoarding, they should contact DPR and they would be dealt with.”